Inside the Brewing Federal–State Showdown at the Texas Border

EAGLE PASS, Texas—A humble city park on the Texas side of the Mexican border has taken the national stage in a showdown between Texas and the federal government. Texas National Guard seized Shelby Park on Jan. 10 and placed a wire gate at the entrance, blocking U.S. Border Patrol agents from entering. The 47-acre park, owned by the city of Eagle Pass, was being used as a staging area for Border Patrol agents under the direction of the Biden administration to process a massive wave of thousands of illegal immigrants crossing the Rio Grande in December. Now, the drainage area inside the park, once teeming with illegal immigrants, is empty; the Rio Grande flows silently, mostly undisturbed by illegal crossings at the end of January on a rare rainy day in south Texas....